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Well, I've just got back from the office and normally at this time I'd change to put on some more comfortable clothes. But tonight there is absolutely no point.

That's because I'm about to head off to Newent and I'm about to go to a naturist barbecue. I've got absolutely no idea what to expect, I keep thinking that maybe someone is having a joke or winding me up and, actually, they won't be naked at all.

I have to admit that I am a bit nervous and I don't know it's going to be like. I've been told to take a bottle and a towel so I have packed them into my bag and I'm about to meet Graham and his partner Sue. I guess it's a case of fingers crossed!

Quite a shock

When I arrived at the house near Newent, I already knew it was a naturist barbecue so obviously I knew that the people were going to be naked.

But for some reason, and I know this is going to sound silly, I was still surprised and still quite shocked when I rang the doorbell and a completely naked man came and answered the door. I wouldn't say I was a prude but it's just not what you would expect.

Completely starkers

After I was shown in I was introduced to Graham's partner Sue, who was also completely starkers, and I was invited to leave my clothes in the guest room. However either cowardishly or sensibly, whichever you think it is, I decided to wear a bikini.

Well, I suppose there's nothing more natural than being a naturist but it doesn't actually, to me, feel very natural to sit and eat a meal with naked people. I was made to feel very comfortable and, after a while, my nervousness did begin to wear off and I became more relaxed.

However, at the beginning I did feel there was a forced need to look my hosts in the eye at all times, which I probably wouldn't do as much with a clothed person or a 'textile' as naturists call us.

A simple approach

Graham has a simple approach to naturism - if nobody can see you, why's it a problem? He says:

"They put a label on as if it's some sort of club you join but if you've got a secluded garden and the sun's beating down and you're hot and you think 'wouldn't it be nice to sit down and relax, have a pint and let the sweat drip off'. What do you do? When you're too hot you strip off your clothes. There's nobody around so why stop? Why not carry on until you've finished?"

Graham runs an engineering business. By day he wears clothes but when he comes home, if it's hot, it all comes off - he gets naked or he wears what he calls his 'one button suit' (and that's his belly button by the way)!

How it all began

I ask Graham where the decision to go 'au naturel' came from. He explains:

"We went camping in France and [found] this fabulous beach in Brittany. It was a beautiful beach, a hot sunny day and we just sat there on the beach and thought 'why not go for the all-over tan'? So we did.

It was nice. You get the air to your body. The sea is there and it's warm and you think 'cor, I never done this before'. It's different and it's a little bit risqué. But it's also nice and it's ever so natural. We thought 'let's stick with it and try it again sometime'."

Did Graham find that it was quite addictive? He replies:

"Not addictive at that point but it was an experience that you couldn't forget.

The next time we decided to go the whole hog and try a holiday which had the label 'naturist' on it. It was a 'naturist' holiday as advertised in the naturist press. We went to the south of France to a little naturist village called Aphrodite. We rented an apartment there for a week.

We got up on the first morning, naked, drew the curtains, opened the windows and stepped out into the wide world with all sorts of other people. Nobody noticed and we were just like the rest of them. We weren't any different, we were accepted and it was nice. You got used to it."

What's the difference between a naturist and a nudist? Graham explains:

"I think it's a matter of time. In the beginning nudists were associated with nudist colonies, which were to do with bushes and hiding - fences and things that were all very secretive. We're talking about the 1920s and 1930s, and the birth of nudism.

As it became more and more widely accepted with more and more people who did it, nudism was a word associated with freaks. People who just wanted to strip off and go for a swim in the nude, they preferred a new word, which became naturism."

If we talk about how naturism affects your life here in Newent. You've come to the door and answered it naked. We've had dinner and you've been naked outside in your own garden. Is it something you do only within the constraints of your own house? Graham says:

"Yes, that's true. Convention plays a part in this. Everybody wears clothes for three reasons - protection, decoration and modesty. We will conform to the first two. If it's cold, if we're walking around our garden in the nettles and thorns and whatnot then we will wear clothes. If we go out for dinner then we dress up - that's called decoration. But modesty is one that we don't pay very much attention to.

If we want to naked because it feels right to be naked, then we'll be naked. If it's nice and warm and sunny, why wear this provocative bit of cloth around your middle and top or wherever and pretend you're being modest?"

So do you think it's more provocative to wear a short skirt or boob tube or something than to wear nothing at all? Graham replies:

"Yes. You see a desirable young lady on the beach clad in very little, she's quite titillating. You see the same lady in the nude. You look at her face, talk to her, and look at her personality but not her body. You cover up the bits you want people to pay attention to."

Do you see naturism and sex as unrelated then? He says:

"Absolutely. When you look at television, if you can go through a whole night of television without seeing a naked body and not associate it with a sex act then please tell me what it was because it's more or less unknown. On television a naked body is always associated with sexual activity and it's wrong."

Natural is the word

Graham tells me about the ideal situation that he finds at the naturist villages in France. He explains:

"We now have an apartment in the south of France which is within a village, and that village is one of five all naturist villages. Everybody is naked when the weather suits. They mix in with the clothed population, like the dustbin men and the deliveries of bread and all the other produce. There's no conflict, there's no embarrassment, there's no amusement, there's no incredulity. It's natural and natural is the word."

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